Social Media

Social Security Judges In Michigan are now checking your Facebook page, your Twitter page, snapchat and Instagram. They are looking for anything that would be inconsistent with your claimed disabilities.
Therefore, you should shut down all of your social media, well before your social security hearing. You never know what a certain Social Security Judge might think of your social activities.

If you have any questions about filing for Social Security disability or Social Security insurance please call The Law Offices of David Zimmerman.  We file initial applications for SSD and SSI and we also represent you versus the government regarding social security appeals.  You do not have to take on the federal government on your own and I think it is always wise to hire an experienced social security attorney.  No fee unless we win.

Michigan Worker’s Compensation is a wage loss system. You have 90 days to report a work injury which is called giving notice to your employer. If no Worker’s Compensation benefits have been paid you have two years  to file a claim or lawsuit with the Worker’s Compensation Bureau. Due to the complexity of the Michigan Worker’s Compensation law you usually file a case using a Michigan Worker’s Compensation lawyer.

If you give a notice of a work related injury to your employer and their workers compensation insurance carrier files a notice of dispute indicating that they will not pay your workers compensation claim, Then that is the time to find a Michigan Worker’s Compensation lawyer to file a workers comp and station case for you, then that is the time to find a Michigan Worker’s Compensation lawyer to file a workers comp case for you.

It is you and your attorneys burden of proof.  Which means that you with the help of your attorney must prove that you were injured at work and not only that you are disabled but that your disability leads to “wage loss.”  Under the new Worker’s Compensation act passed by Governor Snyder in 2011,  proving actual weight loss has become more difficult. Immediately upon being injured and having restrictions you should be looking for work within those restrictions, that is now a huge part of proving wage loss. You must look for work with restrictions at your current Employer and even at companies outside of your current employer, while you are still employed at the place you were injured. This sounds illogical, and it is, but this is not a requirement of the new law.  Also under the new law vocational counselor’s become involved as they take your restrictions or disability and make opinions about what you can and cannot do.

Also under the new law vocational counselor’s become involved as they take your restrictions or disability and make opinions about what you can and cannot do.

The law is now very complex regarding the new “wage loss” system  and I highly recommend that you contact myself or another attorney that specializes in Michigan Worker’s Compensation law.

If your employer will not file a claim for you, you may file form WC-117 with the Agency. If your claim is disputed by the insurance company or self-insured employer, you may need to file a form WC-104A, Application for Mediation or Hearing.

In most situations you would hire a Michigan Worker’s Compensation lawyer to file the form 104A, for you.

Please contact the law offices of David Zimmerman if you have any questions about how to file a Michigan workers compensation claim or to file a petition.

Michigan Worker’s Compensation lawyer specialist.

What do you when you do when your hurt at work and your employer refuses to make a claim with its workers comp insurance carrier and or the State of Michigan

First,  you must give notice to your employer that you have been hurt at work. Michigan law states that you must give notice within 90 days of injuring yourself at work,  to your employer.  If you have given your employer notice and they flat out refuse  to contact their workers comp carrier, you should contact the state of Michigan and make your own claim.   There is a state form called “employees report of injury” and a process of information that the State of Michigan will take over the phone to get the claim started.

More and more  employers are asking their employees not to make a Worker’s Compensation claim. If they suggest this to you they are really suggesting that they do not have insurance or they are not willing to contact their workers comp insurance carrier. It is the employers duty with every work injury to contact their workers comp insurance carrier. Often employers delay giving notice to their insurance carrier or refused to give notice to their insurance carrier.

If you get the feeling, after giving notice to your employer of a work injury, that they are not filing the paperwork with the state of Michigan or with their insurance carrier please call my office immediately. I will help walk you through the process.

Law offices  of David Zimmerman

Michigan workers compensation lawyer

The question is, if you use vacation time or sick time during a workers compensation situation do you get your time back? The answer under Michigan Law is no. It is now considered substituted wages that are coordinated with workers comp. Essentially, the comp carrier gets a credit. You don’t get your time back. It’s just like unemployment or short term disability.

Disposition Statistics

Magistrate            Open          Closed           Denied

Boyle                      0                 3                     3

Castora                  2                 1                      3

Colombo                2                 2                     2

Grunewald            2                 0                     1

Klaeren                  0                 0                     2

Kurtz                      1                  0                     1

Logan                     0                  1                     1

McAree                  5                  2                     1

McMurray             0                 0                     1

Ognisanti               0                 2                     4

Slater                      0                  1                     1

Timmons               2                  0                     1

Tjapkes                   3                 2                     4

Williams                 1                 3                      1

Woons                    0                  1                     2

Unfortunately, since Gov. Synder changed the workers compensation act in 2011, Vocational Rehabilitation in a Michigan Workers Compensation case, has all but been eliminated.  I know its hard to believe as most of the language for vocational rehabilitation was left in the statute and the State of Michigan still sends a letter to all injured workers, if a claim is being paid by the insurance carrier for 6 months, a letter advising you of your right to retraining and other vocational rehab. services.  The letter and the language that is left in the Act gives a false sense to injured workers that Vocational Retraining is still an option or possibility in Michigan, however it really is not.  (I have personally asked the State to stop sending out the letters regarding the injured workers rights to vocational rehabilitation, but they will not stop sending out the letters, although they know it is providing false information to the public and specifically injured workers.)  Your current State Government wants you to believe that you still have rights that have actually been taken away by the current administration.   It ishttp://michigan-workers-comp-attorney.com/michigan-attorney-blog/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=140&type=image&TB_iframe=1 beyond deceptive.

The Vocational Retraining of yesterday, which was actually retraining in many cases,  has been replaced with Gov.  Snyders crystal ball.  Gov. Snyder’s crystal ball  law now allows vocational counselors hired by the insurance company, to meet with the injured workers and write a report which indicates that they can make the same wages or more, by just using the injured workers past skills, training and education.  The insurance companies vocational counselor gathers information about jobs you did when you were a teenager and also uses other skills, that they pull out of thin air, during a one hour meeting,  and they conclude that you can make the same money, even with severe restrictions from a work injury.  Therefore, your workers compensation is eliminated or greatly reduced based on this new type of vocational rehab.  The vocational counselor no longer helps you look for work or tries to find work within your restrictions.  Even though Vocational Experts have years of training, certificates, and degrees in finding work, for injured and/or disabled people, you are now on your own, you can go out into the world with severe restrictions and you can find work.   This is how Gov. Snyder’s crystal ball vocational rehab. law is now implemented.  They don’t take into consideration your medications, whether you can’t sleep at night due to pain, whether your not clear headed, and your pain is really not an issue for the vocational counselor.  They merely look at your medical restrictions and provide a list of jobs that you should be able to do with your injury and a wage range that you can earn with your injury.

Its your job to start looking for restricted work immediately upon receiving restrictions, either from your doctor or the insurance companies doctors, EVEN IF YOUR STILL EMPLOYED WITH YOUR COMPANY AND THEY HAVE NO RESTRICTED WORK.  YOU ARE TO LOOK FOR RESTRICTED WORK OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMPANY, WHILE YOUR STILL EMPLOYED BY YOUR COMPANY, AND HOPING TO RETURN TO THAT COMPANY.

If you have a Michigan Workers Compensation case and your receiving benefits, your benefits were cut off,  or they never paid your benefits and you have questions about Michigan Workers Compensation and Vocational Rehabilitation Services, please call us at the Law Offices of David Zimmerma at 5869910600.